One day they will be right, no one knows whenYour home is not an investment, it's a personal consumption choice.

(Water, and it's one of the most conservative in water consumption).

check a few prior bills, calculate average daily consumption (actual water use not the dollars), make sure prior bills were based on actual and not estimated readings (utility companies will sometimes bill on estimates if they can’t read a meter for some reason then adjust once they have the actual reading), monitor the meter for a few days and see if the actual use matches the average you calculated.

I try to include podcasts in my daily diet of content consumption so it might also require some changes in your life style. 

Got a door knob note that water leak and high consumption in registered meter. recently rented the home.

If you're reasonably young and that's all the return you need, there's really no need for the consumption that can be owning RE. 

I also wanted and thought Americans would demand bringing back production jobs and not having an economy based on consumption and finance. 

That leaves less money for savings, healthcare, education and general consumption. 

No class that you pay for on wholesaling with be worth the money because those systems are built for mass consumption and to make money, not to actually teach you how to wholesale in your market.

Personally when I was a renter I was guilty of not being as conscious with consumption of any utilities that were included.